Compensating Hand Function in Chronic Stroke Patients Through the Robotic Sixth Finger

• Published in: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 142 - 150
• Main Authors: Salvietti, Gionata, Hussain, Irfan, Cioncoloni, David, Taddei, Sabrina, Rossi, Simone, Prattichizzo, Domenico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.02.2017; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Artificial Limbs; Assistive devices; chronic stroke patients; Compensation; Electromyography; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Exoskeleton Device; Feasibility Studies; Female; Finger; Fingers - physiopathology; Force; Forearm; Grasping; Grasping (robotics); Hand; Hand - physiopathology; hand grasping; Hand Strength; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Modular equipment; Modular structures; Paresis - etiology; Paresis - physiopathology; Paresis - rehabilitation; Patients; Robotics; Robotics - instrumentation; Robotics - methods; Robots; Servomotors; Stroke; Stroke - complications; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation - instrumentation; Stroke Rehabilitation - methods; Task Performance and Analysis; Thumb; Treatment Outcome; wearable robotics; Wearable technology

A novel solution to compensate hand grasping abilities is proposed for chronic stroke patients. The goal is to provide the patients with a wearable robotic extra-finger that can be worn on the paretic forearm by means of an elastic band. The proposed prototype, the Robotic Sixth Finger, is a modular...